Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x11 - "The Wolf Inside"

[Midquest]

I am honestly baffled by the idea that this show has been predictable. You saw Tyler being Voq coming? Sure. Me too! The show telegraphed that. But did anyone ever imagine he'd learn his identity from himself? That's a clever and unexpected twist.

And did anyone ever imagine that the solution to the war would come from Burnham meeting Voq? That she'd find in the Mirror Universe rebels a confirmation that peace among diametrically different species is possible? I'd bet money on that being a catalyst for resolving the season. No one ever predicted that.

The bigger story is playing out in ways that we can see coming, but the ways that we move through that bigger story have some intricate and unexpected twists.

This hour wasn't as immediately stirring as the last one, but the complexity of the storytelling and the sophistication of the plotting has increased dramatically. I feel like I'm firmly in the hands of an innovative group of storytellers. Not every scene lands, but enough of it does to make me feel pretty damn excited about Star Trek on TV. And that is from someone who was not terribly thrilled that the show would visit the Mirror Universe initially.

And thank the gods that they're finally letting these episodes run a little longer. The show gets to breathe. It gets to develop atmosphere. I feel like the show has a rhythm.

I cannot wait for next week.

Edited for typos.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think it's a bit different though. Riker just inexplicably lost his ambition. In Discovery's case, at least one of the main cast isn't a Starfleet officer, another may not be, and the third could ascend into a higher plane of existence or something.

That's bad writing in Riker's case. Making him a gung ho wanna be Captain is choice with consequences. At least Spock was "content" to stall at XO. Burnham can get her commission back. The real Tyler can come back. (either for real or mentally). Stamets can be "disconnected". Not the best choices, but options to keep the band together.

 

[Noname Given]

They can't show the Defiant yet since it would commit to a finalized connie design. I don't think we'll see an actual connie till S2.

Since the Defiant has been in the MU for over a century, no it really doesn't 'commit' them to anything regarding the PU Starship/Constitution Class design in the Prime Universe of 2257.

 

[thribs]

Beaming people into space seems too merciful for the Terran Empire.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Beaming people into space seems too merciful for the Terran Empire.

Unless you're the one being beamed into space.

 

[Noname Given]

But we don’t even know if they are in the same area as the Shenzhou. For all we know they’re still in the debris field.

Unless the Discovery's Transporter tech is a quantum leap beyond anything else in the 23rd century; by the fact they were able to transport Tyler/Voq, we know they're in the area.

Also, I agree with others in that we don't need explicit dialogue about every single aspect (they didn't do it for TOS - and it's one aspect of the TNG era writing that I got sick of - sometimes they'd repeat aspects of a plan as they were carrying them out after a 10 minute conference room scene explaining the plan in detail.)

How do we know the Discovery wasn't detected? None of the other ships are talking about her, or firing on her.

 

[Fateor]

They seem to have forgotten that killing your superior officer is how you get promoted in the Mirror Universe...

 

[MvRojo]

Beaming people into space seems too merciful for the Terran Empire.

Weren't the three beamed out at the beginning, in the brig and being tortured in the agony booth in the last episode?

 

[Amaris]

They seem to have forgotten that killing your superior officer is how you get promoted in the Mirror Universe...

Killing and succeeding, sure. Killing and failing? That's another story. So in the MU, if you take on your superior officer, you'd better win.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Also, I agree with others in that we don't need explicit dialogue about every single aspect

Unfortunately, many fans do. Their version of Star Trek would be heavy on dialog filled with clunky exposition about everything up to and including bowel movements.

 

[Nerys Myk]

They seem to have forgotten that killing your superior officer is how you get promoted in the Mirror Universe...

Did they?

 

[SolarisOne]

They seem to have forgotten that killing your superior officer is how you get promoted in the Mirror Universe...

Not at all. You only get away with it if you succeed.

 

[Noname Given]

Not to mention the emperor could tell Burnham was being tardy with her bombing across the quadrant, and showed up to finish the job.

Remember: Burnham got the info DIRECTLY via a holo-audience with the Emperor's attendant (that's probably as direct an order you can get.)

And remember when Burham warped over - the tactical officer was ready to glass the planet with Photons immediately; but Burnham stopped her (and the explanation of why and what she wanted to do worked for her crew not to question it - but the Emperor was definitely expecting the former - so when she didn't get a 'mission completed' message in the time she thought it should come; she warped over herself to see the situation. (My complaint is that it's a little convenient that the Emperor WAS so close to be able to arrive so quickly.)

 

[CorporalClegg]

My emotions are still on the fritz after watching my team pull of one of the greatest victories in American sports history. Plus I've had several beers. So I could have easily given this show 9000.

But once the high wears off, I'll probably settle on 8.5. Didn't think it was as good as last week, but still a lot of fun. I think the weakest part was Green's soliloquy. It felt kind of flat. And, yeah, I was a little disappointed with the reveals, but whatever. I think "obvious" is a better word than "predictable." But it works within the context of the theme, so whatever.

 

[Noname Given]

They clearly have plans for him, at least through the end of Season 1 - possibly even further along if they want him to come back for next season. I can think of two possibilities.

1. They somehow "purge him" of the Voq persona, turning him into Ash Tyler fully (this would be lame, but he could settle into a long-term role on the show).

2. He finds some sort of emotional balance integrating his experience as Tyler with being Voq, and helps to craft some sort of armistice between the Klingons and the Federation in the last episode. If they go this route, his arc will be over and there will be no reasonable way he can stay on the show, as he will not be allowed to serve openly on the show into the next season.

Or, after this war, he's the basis (and for a time the Klingons who decide to follow him adopt his form) for the humanoid TOS Klingon look. (and yeah, I'm serious.) - so in the second season we start seeing more humanoid Klingons in encounters

 

[thribs]

Unfortunately, many fans do. Their version of Star Trek would be heavy on dialog filled with clunky exposition about everything up to and including bowel movements.

Bowel movements? Toilets are really mentioned in Star Trek.
They showed the Discovery in the debris field and then we see them being up Tyler with no one on the Shenzhou bridge batting an eye to the ship and/or him being beamed. It just felt very out of the blue. You’d think with those big bridge windows, they could see it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Bowel movements? Toilets are really mentioned in Star Trek.
They showed the Discovery in the debris field and then we see them being up Tyler with no one on the Shenzhou bridge batting an eye to the ship and/or him being beamed. It just felt very out of the blue. You’d think with those big bridge windows, they could see it.

They thought it was a reflection.

 

[thribs]

They thought it was a reflection.

But surely the sudden absense of his body would raise an alarm.

 

[Succubint]

I only dabble in fan fiction and very amateur writing, but I do think that writers don't just want to blindside their audience. Plot twists for their own sake can become cheap and annoying. Things are telegraphed because they want to make the eventual reveal plausible. That some fans are extremely obsessive over every detail and can make use of the internet to develop theories while poring over screencaps can mean that interesting plot swerves will be deduced earlier than intended. But that just means the writers did their seeding of the narrative correctly if you were paying close attention. Not all TV audiences do. Of course, anyone posting regularly here is probably above average on that score.

I hate plot and twist swerves that are mostly shock value, with little lead up. So for me, being able to correctly speculate some of the more interesting arcs ahead of time is satisfying. I never was a fan of just throwing in unpredictable reveals just because. I prefer things making some kind of sense in hindsight and if I figure it out sooner, then I still enjoy the ride to the reveal and the "Yep, I called it" elation afterwards. YMMV.

 

[Noname Given]

Another 10 from me. Gotta say that these are probably the best two episodes of the first season so far (and I have liked some others a lot) - but for me, these last two have really been out of the park hits firing on all cylinders.

Were there some Trek tropes? Yep, but overall the ones they put in had a bit of a twist that worked:

- Burnham countermanding the immediate bombardment of the surface - but IMO her explanation of why, and what she told them she wanted to accomplish was reasonable.

- Tyler/Voq being saved from death and floating in deep space - (and when Burnham took the controls I figured she was going to beam him directly to the Discovery, and then quickly modify the logs; but she did beam him into space - and further for Saru's comment of "We're Starfleet officers here and still bound by Federation laws..." there IS the fact that Burnham got the Defiant Crossover event data to Saru via this trick; and I have to believe that with all she's been through - she WOULD have beamed him into space without a second thought (and I would have been okay with that)
^^^
So, yeah, some tropes, but with a small twist here and there.

The one thing I didn't understand was: Why was Sarek so cryptic to MU Voq about Burnham after the Mind-Meld? In TOS "Mirror, Mirror" - Spock quickly learned about the actual 'Prime Universe" after a forced Meld with Dr. McCoy; and by the images flashed during the Meld, it seemed pretty clear that MU Sarek would know the full series of events from the time Burnham was a child - yet he just gave a "She's no threat and is telling the truth..."; so it does make me wonder about MU Sarek's ultimate motivation for being with the rebels since his son Spock, is probably serving in the MU Starfleet (By Mirror, Mirror, we know he's First officer on the MU 1701 - but whether of not he's serving with MU Pike is unknown - and I say that because in the MU Kirk got command of the MU 1701 by the assassination of Christopher Pike - thus the events of the Prime Universe in TOS "The Menagerie I and II" never happened in any form in the MU - thus maybe Spock's ultimate service history is quite different in many ways.

I have to say at this point, in it's first 11 episodes, yeah, ST: D is giving both TOS Season 1 and ENT Season 4 a run for the money as far as being one of the best seasons of Star Trek produced to date. YMMV of course.

Still, it's been a LONG time since I've been really excited and chomping at the bit to see the next episode of a Star Trek series as I am with what will be their third MU episode. I really thought these would just be a nostalgia lane trip and ratings/viewer grab - but I have to say this has been an entertaining twist and these episodes are the best this series has done so far.